It came as a surprise last year when a man named Demetrius Ellerbee claimed that he was as much a part of Jeezy's success as the ATL rapper himself. Ellerbee claimed he helped Jeezy found CTE Music in 2000, and was his business partner. He declared that he was owed half of the total profit the rapper had made to date, which he estimated was at least $5 million, but likely much more once royalties and interest were factored in. He has also said that he served as executive producer on two of Jeezy's albums.

Jeezy has now responded to the lawsuit with legal documents denying his partnership with Ellerbee. The docs say that contrary to Ellerbee's claims, the two were not best friends, they did not form any music companies together, and Jeezy did not enter into any agreements to share half of his profits with Ellerbee.